MU quarterback Brad Smith vs. the South Carolina defense
Hey, South Carolina defensive end Orus Lambert said it, not us. “Pretty much, all we have to do is just stop Brad Smith,” is the exact way that Lambert put it. And here, according to Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier is the strategy that his team will employ. “You have to sort of contain,” Spurrier said. “You don’t just run straight at a quarterback like him. Hopefully our guys will get off blocks and sort of corral him, is the word, instead of just go straight and try to make a tackle.”

THREE THINGS ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA
■ South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier was the Florida quarterback and the Heisman Trophy winner when the Gators fell to Missouri 20-18 in the 1966 Sugar Bowl. Spurrier remembers the game this way: “We got behind 20-0 against Missouri. They had played eight-man front and we couldn’t run very far and couldn’t get a pass off. We finally started rolling out against it and dumping to a guy in the flat. Jack Harper caught a bunch of passes. We scored early in the fourth and went for two. Twenty to eight would look better than 20-7. I think that was his rationale on that. We scored a couple of more, but we didn’t make an extra point.”

■ Sorry, but No. 1 wasn’t long enough to supply the punch line. Here it is. “Norm Carlson, the sports information director at the University of Florida left me a message on my cell phone (Thursday) morning,” Spurrier said. “If it comes down to going for two early in the game, don’t do it.”

■ Spurrier likes to pass, but South Carolina has run the ball more than it has thrown it this season. There’s a reason for that. “We’re not a good enough passing team right now to throw 40 passes a game,” Spurrier said. “We have to mix it up, mix it up, and not let the other guy tee off on us.”

Try 70 degrees, sunny, beautiful. And hey, Missouri fans, you stayed away from this because it’s the Independence Bowl again?

A GOOD DAY?

South Carolina’s problems stopping the run continue. The Gamecocks have yielded 171.6 yards a game this season. So let South Carolina play Brad Smith to run. Pitch on the option to Tony Temple, who’ll start at tailback again in place of the injured Marcus Woods.

A BAD DAY?

Jason Simpson’s suspension (replaced by William Moore) and a decision by MU to start Domonique Johnson at corner instead of senior Marcus King presents two targets for the South Carolina passing game that could blow this game wide open.

MIKE DeARMOND’S PICK

Missouri 28-20

A month ago we picked South Carolina. But South Carolina’s cockiness, past record against the run and Brad Smith’s ability to run, tip the scales in spite of South Carolina receiver Sydney Rice being a game breaker. Sure, it will be an upset. But you’ve got to pick one once in a while, don’t you?

A month ago we picked South Carolina. But South Carolina’s cockiness, past record against the run and Brad Smith’s ability to run, tip the scales in spite of South Carolina receiver Sydney Rice being a game breaker. Sure, it will be an upset. But you’ve got to pick one once in a while, don’t you?

All of which is more than offset by Gary Pinkel's spectacular stubborness and incompetence.

I'm heading to McCoy's to watch this one. I have very little hope in Mizzou to win this one, and a small part of me even hopes they lose so they can find another reason to fire Pinkel...
I'm at peace with the fact that they will probably lose and still keep Pinkel, however.

__________________
"And I don't wish that girl any bad luck," he said, "but I hope she gets hit with a car."
- Tommy Lasorda

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier was the Florida quarterback and the Heisman Trophy winner when the Gators fell to Missouri 20-18 in the 1966 Sugar Bowl. Spurrier remembers the game this way: “We got behind 20-0 against Missouri. They had played eight-man front and we couldn’t run very far and couldn’t get a pass off. We finally started rolling out against it and dumping to a guy in the flat. Jack Harper caught a bunch of passes. We scored early in the fourth and went for two. Twenty to eight would look better than 20-7. I think that was his rationale on that. We scored a couple of more, but we didn’t make an extra point.”